THE FERAL PIG (SUS SCROFA)

Feral pigs are environmental and agricultural pests. They cause damage to the environment through
wallowing, rooting for food and selective feeding. They destroy crops and pasture, as well as habitat for
native plants and animals. They spread environmental weeds and could spread exotic diseases should
there be an outbreak. Research is continuing into techniques that will control feral pigs and minimise the
damage they cause to native plants and animals.

History

Ecology

Domestic pigs were brought to Australia at the

time of European settlement as a food source,
and were transported around the country by 19th
century settlers. Initially, the pigs that escaped
or were allowed to wander were associated with
human habitation, but truly feral colonies eventually
became established. Their spread mainly
along watercourses and floodplains is not well
documented, but by the 1880s, feral pigs reached
such numbers that they were considered a pest in
parts of New South Wales.

Because they need to drink daily in hot weather,

feral pigs are not found in the dry inland. In
hot weather, they are usually found within two
kilometres of water. Densities vary depending on
conditions, with about one feral pig per kilometre
square in eucalypt woodland, forest and grazing
land, and as many as 1020 per kilometre square
in wetlands and seasonally inundated floodplains.
Feral pigs are active from late afternoon to early
morning. They eat a wide range of foods
including plants and small animals, and they will
scavenge on dead animals.

Today, up to 23.5 million feral pigs are spread

across about half of the continent, from western
Victoria, through New South Wales into
Queensland, and across northern Australia.
Isolated populations can also be found on a few
offshore islands.

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Distribution of feral pigs in Australia

Sources: National Land & Water Resources Audit (2008) Assessing invasive animals in Australia 2008, NLWRA,
Canberra./SEWPaC (2010) Feral animals on offshore islands database located at http://www.environment.gov.au/
biodiversity/invasive/ferals/islands/

Adult male feral pigs (boars) generally roam alone

over an area of up to 43 kilometre square, while
females (sows) range over areas smaller than 20
kilometre square. During dry conditions, groups
of up to 100 pigs may gather around waterholes.
To breed, a male joins a group of 1215 females.
Feral pigs can breed from the age of 712 months,
and usually produce one or two litters of about six
piglets each year. Many piglets are lost to dingos
and wild dogs, starvation and loss of contact with
their mother. This rapid reproductive rate, similar to

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rabbits, can increase a population by up to 86 per

cent each year in ideal conditions.

Impact
Environmental damage caused by feral pigs can be
hard to measure. By wallowing and rooting around
the edges of watercourses and swamps, they
destroy the vegetation that prevents erosion and
provides food and nesting sites for native wildlife.
They compete with native animals for food, pose
a threat to ground-nesting birds, and can spread

environmental weeds. Feral pigs have destroyed

breeding sites and degraded key habitats of the
endangered white-bellied frog, orange-bellied frog
and corroboree frog.
Feral pigs can be a serious agricultural pest. They
cause losses of an estimated 20000 tonnes of
sugarcane each year. In some areas, they kill and
eat up to 40 per cent of newborn lambs. Feral pigs
are hosts for pathogens such as brucellosis and
leptospirosis, and could also carry diseases such
as foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever
and rabies, should those diseases be accidentally
introduced into Australia.

Control
A number of techniques are available to control
feral pigs. In open country, mustering and shooting
from helicopters can be effective in the short term,
and pigs shot in the wild may be used for their
meat. Shooting from the ground is considered to
only be effective in small accessible populations.
The market for wild pig meat is worth approximately
$20 million annually.
Feral pigs can be controlled using poison grain or
meat baits, usually with compound 1080 (sodium
monofluoroacetate). Poisoning requires freefeeding of non-toxic bait prior to the toxic bait to
attract the pigs. Free-feeding also reduces the risk
of poisoning to non-target animals.
Traps baited with grain can be used to control feral
pigs. Traps are built near areas where pigs are
active, such as watering holes. Land-holders often
leave traps erected permanently, but only activating
the gate when pig activity is evident.
Electric fences are also used to protect small areas
of high conservation priority from feral pigs.

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Which ever method of control is used, the feral

pigs rapid breeding cycle often results in rapid
population recovery following control activity.
Research is currently focusing on improving
knowledge of the impact of feral pigs on the
environment and improving baiting toxins and
methods.

How the Australian Government is

dealing with a national problem
Predation, habitat degradation, competition
and disease transmission by feral pigs is
listed as a key threatening process under the
Commonwealth Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act).
Under the EPBC Act, the Australian Government,
in consultation with the states and territories,
has developed the Threat Abatement Plan for
Predation, Habitat Degradation, Competition and
Disease Transmission by Feral Pigs.
The threat abatement plan aims to reduce the
impacts of feral pigs on native wildlife and habitats
by:
preventing feral pigs from establishing in areas
where they currently do not occur or are in low
eradicable numbers, and where they are likely
to pose a threat to biodiversity, especially where
they would impact on nationally listed threatened
species and ecological communitites
integrating feral pig management plans and their
implementation into natural resource planning
and investment at the regional, state and
territory, and national level through consultation
and liaison with key stakeholders
increasing awareness and understanding of land
managers and the general community about the
damage that feral pigs cause and management
options

 quantifying the impacts feral pigs have on

biodiversity (especially nationally listed
threatened species and ecological communities)
and determine the relationship between feral pig
density and the level of damage, and
improving the effectiveness, efficiency and
humanness of techniques and strategies for
managing the environmental damage due to feral
pigs.
Feral pig control programs also need to be
coordinated with other activities taking place,
including the on-ground protection of threatened
plants and animals, and control of other invasive
species, such as feral goats and rabbits. The threat
abatement plan provides a national framework
that will enable the best use of the resources
available for feral pig management. The Australian
Government works with the states and territories to
deal with this national problem.

Further reading:
Choquenot D, McIlroy J and Korn T (1996).
Managing Vertebrate Pests: Feral Pigs. Bureau of
Resource Sciences, Canberra.

For further information, contact:

Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water,
Population and Communities
GPO Box 787
Canberra ACT 2601
Phone: 1800 803 772
Web site http://www.environment.gov.au/
biodiversity/invasive/index.html
InvasiveSpecies@environment.gov.au

More information about the threat abatement plan

can be found at: http://www.environment.gov.au/
biodiversity/threatened/publications/tap/pig.html

Commonwealth of Australia 2011

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The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Australian Government or the
Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.

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BIO57.0610

Photo credits in order: Feral pig illustration (Karina Hansen McInnes), Feral pigs in Cape York and Far North Queensland (J. Mitchell,
Biosecurity Queensland).